Saturday 27 September 2014

The Heroine Mulan

Tonight I watched the animated movie Mulan, for the first time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Recently Father God has been speaking to me about women in warfare throughout the ages. Women in China often fought and led armies. Mulan's story however is based on a poem which eventually became a legendary  story of one woman's journey to save her father and her very own people.

So much about the movie really struck me, like the way women have been viewed throughout the ages. The way women were largely ignored and dishonoured. In the movie Mulan admits that perhaps she went on the journey to join the army so that she could see herself for who she truly was. Her society dictated to her who she needed to be, a silent, punctual wife with a (and I quote) small waistline. But Mulan is different, she felt it and although she tried to fit in to what others expected of her as a woman, she inevitably only succeeded in what she was created for. To be a fiery woman, who lived outside of the oppression of women, to become her own person. She was passionate, spirited, intelligent and everything in between. So many women throughout the ages, have defied their societal norms to become more then what they were told they could be, because sometimes when you face the burning inside your heart for something more, you are facing God's purpose for your life.

Still today, many theological debates rage on the issue of women and their place in society. I dont understand how these issues cna still persist because history (and subsequently the Bible) attest to the equality of both men and women and the fact that each of us are made and fashioned for a unique purpose. I believe that Deborah rode out with Barak on to the field (Judges 5). I believe that Jael did not tremble when she drove the tentpeg through Sisera's temples. I believe that Joan of Arc did not ride in to battle without the assurety of knowing that God was on her side. I believe that through the intelligence, the bravery, the honour, the courage and the guts of many women, many whose names we do not even know, the world is a changed place and that was always God's design.

Mulan joined the army of China, to save her fathers life but in the end she saved the father of the nation the Emperor, as well as the people of her nation. God is calling us as His daughters to join His army, to enlist at His command, to join His recruits and train for the war which we daily fight. Inevitably we ride out to save what our Father endevaoured to give mankind - truth, life and justice. We ride out to honour the Father of all mankind, our Emperor - Messiah Yeshua our Lord. In the final battle which will unfold in the near future Yeshua (Jesus) Himself will lead the armies of heaven and earth in one final battle, where even His clothes will be soaked in the blood of His fallen enemies. We need to daily decide, are we ready to be all He has called us to be? Are we ready to wage war to live on the side of what is right? Are we ready to be in this world but not of it and it's oppressive viewpoint of women? Are we ready to stand up for the underdog, the oppressed and the needy?
May God's voice echo in to your heart and call you to a place of complete surrender, where you can truly lead those He has called you to lead, from the depth of Father's heart!

Isaiah 63: 1 - 6

Who is this coming from Edom,
    from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson?
Who is this, robed in splendor,
    striding forward in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, proclaiming victory,
    mighty to save.”
 Why are your garments red,
    like those of one treading the winepress?
 “I have trodden the winepress alone;
    from the nations no one was with me.
I trampled them in my anger
    and trod them down in my wrath;
their blood spattered my garments,
    and I stained all my clothing. It was for me the day of vengeance;
    the year for me to redeem had come. looked, but there was no one to help,
    I was appalled that no one gave support;
so my own arm achieved salvation for me,
    and my own wrath sustained me. I trampled the nations in my anger;
    in my wrath I made them drunk
    and poured their blood on the ground.”

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