Want to know a secret? You can totally be an effective female warrior for Jesus without having it all together.

You don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to be at a certain level of growth. In fact, you can be broken, repressed, and dealing with a very messy life.

How can this be, you ask? Because being a warrior for God is about focusing on the right things…things that you’re probably already doing or in the process of cultivating.

What are these mysterious key traits? Hit play and find out!

Show Notes:

• Intro

  • Hey there, sister! Welcome to today’s episode. Before we get started, I want to remind you that in the show notes you will find two very important links. One is a link to join the official Jesus Maiden online community where you can interact directly with myself and other women facing the same challenges and struggles just like you. I highly recommend checking that out. 

  • The other link is to sign-up for the official Jesus Maiden e-mail list so that you can get first dibs on new podcast episodes, fun product releases, and special announcements. It’ll take you 30 seconds, and I’m very respectful with my list. I personally detest getting a ton of emails or spam emails, which means I would never do the same to others. You’ll only get good, helpful, perfectly-timed content and resources! 

  • Alright! So now that I’ve covered that bit of housekeeping, let’s get into the meat of today’s episode. And I actually want to start this episode off with a personal story from my own life to help set us up. 

  • For those of you who are avid listeners to the show, you know that I came to Christ a little over twenty years ago. I was in my early 20s and two years into my marriage. My (now) ex-husband was not a Chrristian and never did give his life to Christ despite God’s very obvious efforts - especially towards the end.

  • Soon after I became a Christian, Jesus directed me to a nearby church. My parents weren’t religious, and I knew very little about the Bible, Jesus, or churches. But I obeyed. I started going to services. Eventually, I even volunteered my web and graphic design expertise.

  • I attended that church for something like six or seven years. And during that time, God used me more to try and affect change within the church than the church actually helped me grow and mature. In fact, it was the teaching of a church located across the country that actually fed me and helped me grow and mature. And then that knowledge and maturity was used by Jesus to try and affect change within my local church.

  • And this started the minute that I stepped through its doors, when I was a new Christian with zero background knowledge or experience. I wasn’t a theologian. I wasn’t acquainted with Christian culture. I was definitely a work in progress. There were a lot of issues that Jesus started working on - how to establish boundaries; increasing my self-esteem; healing old wounds.

  • In other words, I wasn’t what most people would consider a female warrior for Jesus. But I was.

  • In fact, towards the end of my time there, Jesus specifically put me in a situation to see that one of the pastors on staff was essentially a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And Jesus called me to share this with the senior pastor. A man who knew me well; whom I had worked side-by-side with for years as I volunteered my design talents.

  • The senior pastor reacted by having me come to the church a day or two later, and putting me in a room with himself and all of the pastoral staff - including the pastor that I had reported on. The focus of the conversation was to get me to recant what I had said. It was never even considered that what I said was true. In fact, when I said that I was doing what God told me to do (versus making trouble which is how they were seeing it), I point-blank asked the senior pastor if he had prayed over the issue - and he scoffed and said no, he hadn’t.

  • That single conversation ended with them revoking my church membership. Some time later, my ex-husband decided that we would get a divorce and I moved back to Pennsylvania where I’m from. A few months afterward, I brought up that church’s website and discovered that the pastor I had reported on was gone. As was the senior pastor. I tracked the senior pastor down at a church in the midwest, now serving as an outreach pastor instead of a senior pastor.

  • Jesus had clearly used me to try and bring light to a very real problem. And He didn’t use any of the church members who had been there since it was founded. He didn’t use another pastor on staff. He didn’t use someone with a degree in theology, or knew the Bible backwards and forwards; or who had her life all together.

  • He used me. And even as the years have passed, I’ve often wondered why Jesus did that. Why me? Why use a new or newer Christian, with a lot of work for Jesus to do? With a bad marriage and a messy life?

  • Because being a warrior for Jesus isn’t about those things. So what is it about? What are some traits to being a powerful, impactful, female warrior for Jesus?  

• 1) You’re aligned with Jesus 

  • In other words, Jesus is your top priority and focus.

  • I know. This may sound obvious. But the truth is that there are plenty of churches and believers out there who never even utter the name of Jesus, let alone make Him their central focus, or bother to discover their calling (or what He’s currently asking them to do). Not to mention actually obeying Him or following through on it.

  • The church that I just spoke to fell into this category. Jesus was not the focus; His name was rarely spoken. But after I came to Christ, Jesus made a point of teaching me how to hear and recognize His voice. He ensured that He was my focus. Which is why I was able to follow through with seemingly crazy God assignments such as reporting on a pastor.

  • What I’m saying is this: if you put Jesus first; if you’re making a point of growing your relationship with Him; and learning His voice; and seeking to do His will…you are already way ahead of the game.

  • Even if you feel like Jesus still has a lot of work to do in you; or that your life is currently a mess; or that you’re not brave enough, or confident enough, or smart enough, or lack X, Y, and Z. (Which, by the way, Jesus will equip you for whatever He’s asking of you. If you do have a legit lack, He’s got you covered.)

  • In other words, sister, you are equipped right now to be an effective warrior for Jesus. If your desire is to be aligned with Jesus and to be obedient, you’re already in the warrior class. 

• 2) You like a rebel or someone who doesn’t fit in

  • On some level, all of us Christians should feel like we don’t fit in when it comes to secular culture and society. That’s part of becoming more like Jesus everyday and living out God’s Kingdom here on earth. 

  • But, we can also feel as if we don’t fit in on a more individual level. Whether it’s regarding our family, friends, workplace, or even the church. Or just anywhere.

  • Several years ago, I just decided to accept that I am very unique. No matter where I am, I never seem to fully mesh. Doesn’t mean that people aren’t welcoming or friendly. But somehow, I just never seem to feel as if I truly fit in.

  • But that’s okay. You know why? Because the person that I am is the person that Jesus is using to do this podcast; and build my business (which God has specifically told me is “His mission”); and to write a book about my own empowerment journey in Christ so that women can read it and see that it’s truly possible for them.

  • I’m a woman who’s not afraid to call out how certain Scriptures have been twisted or just used incorrectly in order to keep women in a box. (Along with what they truly mean.) Or to tell her own story, including her own mistakes.

  • I’m a woman who’s not afraid to follow Jesus as He puts this business together, following Him in faith, while not having qualms about establishing boundaries or failing certain expectations of others…because I need to focus on what Jesus is calling me to do.

  • Here’s the thing, sister. Often, massive change does not originate from a majority group…it comes from a minority group. Whether that’s a single person or an actual group.

  • Think about when Jesus came to earth and started His ministry. He didn’t have some goal of getting 51% of Jews on board with His beliefs before He started teaching, healing, and stirring the waters in order to affect change. Instead, Jesus and his disciples were more like rebels.

  • Sister, you might not “fit in” because Jesus has special plans for you. He may need you to help impact men or women who have experienced similar struggles or experiences. (Like in the case with me.) Or, maybe He wants to show people what it looks like when you put Him first instead of religion or ideas that simply keep them captive.

  • What I’m trying to say is, being a rebel or not feeling as if you fully fit in might actually be an amazing thing. It’s not that Jesus wants you to be lonely or depressed. I’m not saying you can’t be close to family and friends. But sometimes, to create change (which is basically making things different), it requires different people. Like you.

• 3) You’re willing to step out in faith for Jesus

  • This goes back to aligning with Jesus and our relationship with Him. If we put Jesus first, and learn to hear His voice, and desire to follow where He leads, and we’re willing to be that rebel warrior to help affect change, then we’re also equipped to step out in faith for Him…even as He bolsters our faith. (Because we are, after all, talking about faith.)

  • However, a lot of female listeners of the podcast came to Jesus while in dire or messy circumstances. And/or, are also clinging to Jesus as their only protector, provider, and trust-worthy friend.

  • This was my story. I got Saved two years into my marriage to a highly manipulative and emotionally abusive man - who also kept life in constant chaos. Jesus was my man; He had to be. That was true when my marriage ended seven years later - and when, as a result, I had to start my life over literally from scratch. 

  • But because my relationship with Jesus began amid the fire, as it were, trust and faith were focal points. I had to learn to trust Jesus; I had to learn to step out in faith.

  • That’s not true for all believers. In fact, some people go through their entire lives without developing those things.

  • Which is unfortunate because as Jesus said in Matthew 9:37, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” And you know what helps get the work done? Trust. Faith. A willingness to step out. And all the other things I’ve touched on today such as aligning with Jesus and obeying Him. 

• Wrap-up

  • Sister, I want you to leave this episode with the knowledge that you do not need to be perfect - or whatever you think you need to be - in order to be a strong, powerful, and effective warrior for Jesus. It’s not about that at all.

  • You already have the right focus - and the right tools in your arsenal. In Ephesians 6:10-18, it talks about putting on the armor of God. Do you know what’s not in those verses? A pre-qualifier such as having your life together, or having been healed to a certain degree, or having a certain standing. 

  • But do you remember how that passage begins? “Last of all I want to remind you that your strength must come from the Lord’s mighty power within you (v10)”. The only quote/unquote “qualifier” is to know and be aligned with Jesus. He’s your power, your source of faith, your help when you need to be confident and strong.

  • You’re a warrior, sister. Embrace it. Revel in it. And let Jesus change the world through your acceptance of it. Cheers!