Warring Women
“Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, Clear as the sun, Terrible as an army with banners?” SOS 6:10
That is my favorite verse in the Bible. It has been such a gift to me, and I want to share that gift with you. It starts out with a question, “Who is she?” The answer for each of us is, “it’s me!” Say it with me, “it’s me!” This verse describes me and it describes you. It speaks of our high position in the kingdom. It speaks of our beauty. It speaks of our purity. It speaks of our power and authority and the absolute terror we are to the kingdom of darkness. When I read this verse, I gain strength because I feel the Lord’s love for me, His acceptance of me, and His delight in me just pouring into my heart and clearing away all doubt, shame and insecurity in my mind.
“Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, Clear as the sun, Terrible as an army with banners?”
It’s me!
A continuing theme for my life, one that I embrace year after year, is “The Greater Glory.” For me, The Greater Glory is a war cry that pumps me up and provides fuel that directs the choices I make from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. The Greater Glory is discovery and action. It’s me walking in intimacy with God to discover who I am, and then intentionally walking out who I am in Christ. It’s not enough to just find out who I am and then do nothing with the revelation. The Greater Glory is an embracing of my identity and then walking in that identity. One aspect of my identity, that I hope you will also embrace in yourself, is that of a warrior.
All God’s daughters are warriors. “Warrior” is how our Bridegroom King describes us. It is a position He earned for us with His victory over the grave. We don’t earn that position or work toward achieving it. We are warriors. We’ve been born again and it’s now part of our DNA. It’s a trait we have to learn to accept about ourselves. It’s part of our identity, and I would even go so far as to say that it is not something we can choose not to be. We are warriors whether we choose to go to war or not. It’s still part of our DNA, part of our identity as sons of God.
Ephesians 6:11-12 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
1 John 5:4 says, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
Psalms 18:39 says, “For You have girded me with strength for battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.”
Daniel 11:32 says, “The people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits.”
Exodus 15:3 says: “The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His name.”
Revelation 19 says the Lord is coming back as a warrior, riding on a white horse and wearing a blood stained white robe leading a mighty army with a sword.
A general at a Billy Graham training center said this, “I love warriors. I love being with warriors. I don’t care how badly injured you are. I don’t care if you’re blind. I don’t care if you are missing limbs. You’ve got a warrior’s heart. You’re a warrior, and you need to continue being a warrior.
Sometimes, we can’t see the warrior in us, but that doesn’t change who we are.
Sometimes, we can’t see the warrior in us, but that doesn’t change who we are. Let me give you an example of what I mean from scripture about something that is there even though it may not be seen: Genesis 1:6-8: “Then God said, “Let there be something to divide the water in two. So God made the air and placed some of the water above the air and some below it. God named the air “sky.” So, there was water in the sky and water on earth. Early man saw water on earth from the beginning, but water in the sky wasn’t seen until the days of Noah when God sent the rains to flood the earth. We know from the first chapter of Genesis that the water was there from the beginning, we just didn’t see the proof until the rain came, according to one source, which was 1600 years after Adam was born. My point is that the proof might take a long time to manifest, whether by our own choosing or the timing of God, but the lack of proof didn’t make the water in the sky any less real. There may be no proof right now that you are a warrior, but you are because God says you are.
Embrace your identity even if others do not.
Embrace your identity even if others do not. David believed. He was anointed King and then cast out, yet he still acted like what he was anointed to be. From the group of criminals and outcasts that joined him in his exile, he created a kingdom of mighty men who became husbands and fathers and are known today only for their righteous acts, and not what they were before becoming a part of David’s kingdom. David lived what he was called to be in the worst situations and eventually he received his rightful inheritance. He didn’t start acting like a king when the people recognized him as such; he acted like a king when God ordained him as such. We are warring women. It is what God calls us, and from the story of David we know that eventually, as we walk faithful to our identity, others will see who we really are.
You are who God says you are even when the situation seems hopeless.
You are who God says you are even when the situation seems hopeless. Let’s look at Abraham. He was born Abram which means exalted father. God renamed him Abraham, which means father of a multitude. Here are the circumstances of Abraham’s life when God renamed him father of a multitude:
Abraham had one son not by his wife.
He was 100 years old & his wife was 90.
Abraham’s situation seemed hopeless. How could a 100 year old man live up to the name, “father of a multitude” with a 90 year old wife? Yet, today, we are all called Children of Abraham. Sarah’s situation seemed hopeless. How could a 90 year old childless woman become the mother of kings? Yet, now we know that God can create a fresh womb in an old body, and we see that scripture was true when God said kings would come from Sarah’s line, when she was 90 and childless. The problem is, most of us don’t see ourselves as warriors. We don’t look like the picture we have in our head of what a warrior looks like, so therefore, we conclude that we must not be one.
Song of Solomon 6:10 – “Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, Clear as the sun, Terrible as an army with banners?”
The first part of this verse is a question: “who is she?” The answer for all of us is, ‘it’s me!” He’s talking about you! It’s the King bragging on His Shulamite Bride who is the picture of us. So, say it with me, “He’s talking about me!”
Looketh forth as the morning: Looking down from an elevated position. We are seated with Christ in Heavenly places. We are new like the morning, new creatures in Christ blessed with all the spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Walking in the authority of heaven.
Fair as the moon: As beautiful as the moon. The moon lights the darkness of night. The darker the night, the more beautiful the moon looks, because its function is needed more. We, the bride of Christ are the light in the darkness. We are the beauty in the dark places of the world. The awesome thing is that we don’t have the burden of having to shine with our own light; our own beauty. The light of the moon is an illusion. The moon is really the color of the pavement; a dull grey, but when it does its job and reflects the light of the sun, it’s amazing. We are nothing in and of ourselves, but when we reflect the light of the Son of God, we become amazing.
Clear as the sun: We are as bright and as brilliant as the sun it all its strength. The sun is the source of energy for life on earth. Wherever we go, we should bring the life of the Son of God that dwells in us. Jesus is the source of life, and we are Him on this earth.
Terrible as an army with banners: I love this. An army with banners announces their arrival by marching in with the banner of the one they are fighting for. They do not use stealth; they don’t need to. They are bold and confident because they are operating under the authority and power of the one they serve. An army like this is truly terrible. They strike terror into the heart of their enemy by their very boldness.
This is how God sees you and me! Seated with Him in Christ, beautiful, bright, brilliant, and deadly to His enemies. We are His warrior bride!
One way we fight is with our gifts. A warrior who is a teacher will look completely different from a warrior who is a pastor. A teacher fights for you to learn the word by giving you the information in a way that is understandable and comprehensible. A pastor fights for you to live the word by shepherding you toward the Father and building relationship with you. They are both fighting, just in different ways. So, a warrior can look like whatever the gift is you are operating in. That gift determines how we fight. Take Intercession for example. An intercessor fights from their knees. To the world, that looks like a position of weakness. It looks like the last alternative; what we do when all else fails. In the spirit, however, that is not the case. I just finished a book called “The Transfigured” and the main character is an Intercessor. It’s about a superhero I named “Inner City”. He was incarcerated and serving a life sentence. He was a horrible human being out in society: drugs, gang violence, murder, prostitution, absent father, promiscuous. Everything he had the imagination and power and money to do, he did it. He got caught, thank God, and ended up serving a life sentence. In prison, he found Jesus. He realized the consequences of his past actions on his neighborhood, on his race, and especially on his sons who were following in his footsteps. Being locked up, he felt the only thing he could do was pray. He soon realized, that prayer was the best thing he could do. And so for hours a day, he would kneel on his concrete floor and intercede for the Inner Cities of America, especially the one his sons were now terrorizing. From the outside, the other prisoners saw this legend of a criminal become a weak cripple with knees so bad he could barely walk. He was ridiculed and tormented. What they didn’t see was the true legendary warrior that intercession made him. You see, when he struggled to his knees, some nights in tears, he was transported to the spiritual realm where he became strong and powerful and deadly, leading his team of warring angels into the atmosphere of the inner cities and he fought the demons of hopelessness and anger and violence that held the people in bondage. So, looking at him, you didn’t see a warrior, but through intercession, he was one.
So, we fight with our gifts. Another way we fight is with our time.
Let’s say you are a mom with three little (pause for effect) angels all under the age of five. It’s ten o’clock at night and they just went to sleep. Now, you have a few choices: Clean up because the little angels just wouldn’t allow it when they were up, or pass out because you are exhausted, or go in your prayer closet and spend time with Abba. Now, is it wrong to clean up? Nope. Is it wrong to pass out from exhaustion? Absolutely not. But Luke chapter 10 tells us of a better way when Jesus said to Martha after she complained to Him about her sister shirking her duties, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." It’s a hard choice, especially when things need to get done, but to embrace your identity as a warrior means making the hard choices.
Let’s say you have a long commute to work in the mornings. Some of those early morning shows are hysterical, and listening to them makes the time pass by so easily. Our choices are to use the time in things that don’t count for eternity, or to use the time in things that matter like worshipping the Lord, praying in tongues, interceding for our families. Is it wrong to listen to the radio and just relax? No, but there is a better choice to make. As warriors, we have to learn to make the better choice with our time.
Another way we fight is thru repetition. Some of us don’t think we are warriors because of repeated failure in a particular area of our lives. But we have to realize that failure does not determine our DNA or our identity as overcomers. We are warriors because that is what God calls us. It is who He says we are, no matter what our lives look like today; no matter what we look like today. I have been battling that demon called cheesecake most of my life. It appears as if I have lost the war, and sometimes I get so frustrated that I begin to agree with the voice of the enemy as he tries to keep my focus on my failure. But, then, the Lord, somehow points me back to a situation in scripture like Genesis 1 with the rain, or to the re-naming of Abraham and Sarah where He declared their destinies in their names before they became a reality, or to David, and I get courage to embrace my identity and fight once again. Intimacy with the Father strengthens the love I have for Him, the one I fight for, and produces strength and strategy for my battles, and one day, as I grow in intimacy with Abba, as I walk in Greater Glory, as I fight by sacrificing my time and walking in my gifts, I will embrace my identity as a warrior in more and more areas of my life, and those areas will finally look like a battle fought and won. No more shame, no more condemnation, but strength and courage to tackle the next area to be conquered.
We need weapons to fight. Our weapons are the Word of God, praying, worshipping, and fasting. We all know that. Our weapons are also each other. In the book of Esther, after Haman’s plot to destroy the Jews was revealed, and Esther’s uncle Mordecai convinced her to go into the King, even though it would probably mean her death, she did something very interesting. She did not go to war alone. Scripture says she told her uncle to get all the Jews to fast for her, and then she got the women that surrounded her together and had them fast with her. She had people fasting for her and people fasting with her. Thousands of weapons fighting for her and with her in this situation. She didn’t do it by herself; she couldn’t. Anyone out there who thinks we do life alone is fooling herself. We need those weapons called our sisters in the Lord.
My boss has the staff walking around the building 3 or 4 days a week for 15 minutes. After our walk, she pulls out the Green tea and we each drink a cup. I may not be thinking kind thoughts about her as I’m walking, and green tea is not the greatest tasting drink in the world, but her concern over our health, combined with the encouragement to walk and get my metabolism going with the green tea, have helped me pick up my weapons and start battling that cheesecake demon again. We need each other.
God didn’t leave Adam alone in the garden. Moses needed Aaron and Hur. David had his mighty men. Jesus had 12 disciples who were with Him most of the time. Paul traveled with a companion or two or three. Even satan was smart enough not to be cast out alone. God Himself is a Trinity. We need each other and we need to keep each other close. I am one of your weapons and you are one of mine.
I looked at almost a hundred pictures of sleeping soldiers, and in every case, the soldiers were asleep with their armor on and their guns in their hands or close at hand. In those cases when they didn’t, they were surrounded by soldiers who were fully awake and fully armed and ready to alert them to danger or protect them from danger. We need each other.
I want to end with this: our identity as a warrior is not only for our personal battles. Victory over an issue in my personal life is supposed to bring victory to others; it can’t end with me. I have a friend who struggled with same sex attraction. This friend once told me that their greatest desire was to be able to stand up in front of people one day and say, “because of the power of God, I’m free from this stronghold, and God wants to free you as well.” We go to war and gain a victory and then we show others how to gain the victory.
I used to laugh at Shaquiel O’Neal. He was sidelined due to an injury of his big toe and I’m thinking to myself, why is this giant of a man letting a big toe injury keep him from playing? Then one day, I hurt my big toe, and I understood. Even when a seemingly insignificant part of the body is hurt and not functioning correctly, the whole body stops functioning to full capacity. When that part is healed, the whole body works better. My victory makes you stronger, and your victory makes me stronger, and the Greater Glory moves from being this thing we strive for individually, to a corporate blessing.
I will leave you with this scripture. Song of Songs 6:13 – “Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.”
This one verse has 3 conversations going on. It’s your sisters in Christ urgently encouraging you to walk in your identity. It’s you saying, why are you so concerned about me? Why am I so important?
The verse ends with the Lord answering that question: “In you I see the place where angels meet for battle.” That’s the literal interpretation. The explanation is found in Genesis 32:1 when Jacob was going to meet Esau. On his way, angels came to meet him, and when he saw them, he exclaimed, “This is God’s camp.” When he saw the angels, he felt that God was there with him and that gave him courage to keep going. For the Lord to say that we are important because when He sees us, He sees the place where angels meet for battle, He is saying that, “you are God’s camp; My Father’s presence is in you; victory is yours! You win!