Delivered From Tradition
I have a friend in Africa who is the wife of a prominent
evangelical leader. Until she attended one of our women’s conferences,
she was timid and non-expressive and did little more than warm a church
pew.
Her husband was revolutionized by our conference. He saw
that his own male superiority complex had made no allowance for his
wife’s ministry to develop. Her potential was totally uncultivated.
As a successful leader, my friend’s husband was inundated
with calls to preach and minister. He drove himself day and night,
almost to the breaking point, while his allegiance to archaic religious
tradition kept his wife’s powerful personality and energy shackled and
restrained.
They both got their eyes opened at the conference. He saw
the terrible waste of human energy and influence that church tradition
had imposed by keeping the women of his congregation in silence. And
she realized how ridiculous it was for her to allow herself to be
subdued by chauvinistic prejudice.
That African woman, with the encouragement of her revolutionized, soul-winning husband, began to realize that
she was filled with the Holy Spirit just as her husband was and that
she had the same anointing, the same faculties and the same
responsibility to share Jesus with the world that he has. She not only
became a powerful voice and influence in their rapidly growing church
but also began to organize the women of the area.
Since attending the conference, they have given birth to
an African women’s organization of preachers, evangelists,
church-builders, convention-speakers, community promoters,
home-builders, school and clinic organizers. They have built a
Pan-African Women’s Headquarters Building and Teaching Center. They
have done their work so well that even the government is recognizing
their influence and their contribution to their nation.
Mary Magdalene was completely delivered by Jesus
Christ—not only from demons but also from religious male domination. I
pray that every woman who reads this will have a miracle
deliverance—not only from sin, disease and negativism, but also from
the tradition of churchmen that locks God’s army of women in a pious
world of silence.
This world is lost. The gospel must be proclaimed by
every voice and instrument possible. Christ’s commission is to all
believers, regardless of gender (see Gal. 3:28). The church can no
longer afford the silence of two-thirds of its constituency.
Mary Magdalene is a symbol of what Jesus came to do. He
defeated death, hell and the grave. He broke down the walls of
division. He annulled the laws of segregation. He abolished the curse
of racial or sexual prejudice.
By His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus defeated
Satan once and for all. The new, liberated church was born. The
Jesus-woman for the Jesus-church emerged as a redeemed, Spirit-filled,
powerful woman to fill the role for which God created and destined her.
Now you have a choice. You can choose to love, obey,
follow and serve your Lord. You can determine to accept your true
identity as God’s child—a co-heir with Christ—and fulfill His dream for
your life.
Your future, your new status, your new life of love and
happiness and success and achievement all depend on your willingness to
make a decision right now to say to yourself and to God, “From this
moment on, I will recognize—and walk in—my understanding of my worth as
a woman in the kingdom of God.”
I made this choice long ago when it became apparent God
was calling my husband into worldwide ministry. I didn’t want to stay
home and hear about his exploits secondhand; I wanted to be a part of
them! How about you? Are you ready to get off the pew and step into the
exciting future God has for you?
Daisy Washburn Osborn (1924-1995) was a fiery
evangelist who traveled the world with her husband, T.L. Osborn, for
more than 50 years, sharing the gospel and bringing healing and
deliverance to multiplied thousands in more than 70 countries, often
through huge crusades. She had tremendous administrative gifts and
served as president and chief executive officer of Osborn Foundation
International, the couple’s Christian missionary organization, which
had headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In this role, she often went to
each country they ministered in before a crusade began to do all the
“front-end” work: meeting with pastors, government leaders and the
press and finalizing technical details. Then, at the actual crusades,
she alternated with her husband as preacher and teacher.
Daisy firmly believed that in Christ we are all equal,
regardless of sex, race or color, and she devoted much of her energy to
encouraging women to become all God intended for them to be, in spite
of opposition from their churches, families or inner selves. Author of
several books and a sought-after speaker in her day, she was
responsible for countless conversions and transformed lives.
Joakim Lundqvist