“We’ve observed that when we give the woman the
loan, she’ll create a business that’ll feed her children; but when we give the
man, he goes out to marry a second wife!” – A.A. Abubakar (Nigerian Philanthropist).
I came up
with the ‘YOU Family’ analogy six years ago while trying to explain the
importance of the Mind in a seminar for Bible Teachers. Only much later did I
realise how apposite the analogy was in explaining the entire Christian life... and how it eerily mirrors
the outside world.
This is
especially true for the MIND (the ‘woman’/‘Wife’). Just like her counterpart in
real life, she is mostly ignored, subjugated and underdeveloped. However,
governments and aid agencies in the world are beginning to realise that the key
to any nation’s development lies with the woman. Regardless of billions of aid
dollars pumped into a country, as long as the woman is not educated and
empowered, no lasting development will be achieved.
The Church
should learn from this. There’re thousands of churches everywhere today filled
with millions upon millions of Believers yet we don’t seem to see the impact on
the wider society. If 120 disciples could revolutionise the entire human
history with their exploits, (Acts 2), you’d think 120 million Believers would
be more than enough to change this world.
The Church
needs to rethink its homiletic philosophy. For too long we have ignored, even
demonized, the ‘woman’ (the MIND). This is because it’s more convenient for
pastors to deal with the ‘Man’ (the Spirit) than his ‘wife’. The ‘Man’ has no
problem with righteousness, prayers, fasting, giving, etc. “The spirit is (ever) willing”, Jesus says (Mt 26:41), it’s the
flesh that’s weak!
If you want
someone to empty their bank account or sow a “prophetic seed”, you have to
PREACH to the ‘Man’ (spirit),not his ‘Wife’ (mind). And make sure she doesn’t
interfere with your communication either. That’s why we drown her voice out
with things like “DO it NOW, delay is
disobedience”, “This is a Prophetic instruction, don’t try to analyse it”, “the
things of the Spirit are only spiritually discerned”, etc.
While this
approach may get the job done it will have no lasting blessing on the
individual. The MIND needs to be persuaded first. Let’s spend time in
teachings: sanctification, healing, giving, prayer, righteousness etc. It may
take a while to persuade 'her', but the investment will be worth it in the
end.
The pastor
will no longer have to SHOUT to make his members believe, or threaten to make
them stop sinning, or use manipulative words to make them give...
In fact,
just as the world has discovered that building the woman is building the
nation, we too will discover that building each individual ‘wife’ will cause
lasting positive change in the entire Body of Christ.
AMEN
(Thanks for
the overwhelming feedback this week).
More
Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.
GREG ELKAN