What would my job be, if I lived in the Old Testament Bible
days? As a woman, my choices are limited, but since I love to dance and sing, I
would choose to be like Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. As a little girl,
she was such a genius at how she saved the life of Moses. I also like how later
she inspired the women, put starch in their spines, and led them in praising
and rejoicing in the Lord. To rejoice and make His praise glorious with flags
and dancing are some of the greatest joys of my life. Three Scriptures come to
mind…
“LIFT THE BANNERS HIGH!”
(See Isaiah 62:10.)
Honor His name; Make His praise
glorious!
Say to God, ‘How awesome are Your
works!’
(See Psalm 66:2-3.)
Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine
in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing.
Miriam sang…
Sing
unto the Lord,
for He is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
He has hurled into the sea.
for He is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
He has hurled into the sea.
The
Lord is my strength and my song;
He has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise Him,
My father's God, and I will exalt Him!
He has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise Him,
My father's God, and I will exalt Him!
(See Exodus 15:1-21.)
We see that Miriam is a leader of
the women. They followed her. She has musical ability and she is a dancer. She
takes her place of leadership, but her leadership directed them to the Lord--in
praise to the Lord.
I want you to notice the word
that is used to describe her. What was it? Prophetess! What’s a prophetess? A
female prophet! What’s a prophet? A prophet is one to whom and through whom God
speaks, revealing Himself and His will.
God gave us information on
prophets in Deuteronomy 13. It
says that if a person says he’s a prophet and he says something’s going to
happen, and it happens, then you can say he is a prophet of the Lord. If it
does not happen, he is not a prophet of the Lord, and the Lord didn’t send him.
The test of a true prophet is that if what he says comes to pass; but the
emphasis must not be on foretelling the future, although the prophets do that—a
prophet practices forth-telling the Word of God. God uses people to speak His
Word. When people, both men and women, communicate what God reveals to them to
the people, they are being a prophet or, as in the case of Miriam, a
prophetess.
If I’d lived in New Testament Bible days, I would choose to
be one of the disciples. I can’t think of anything I’d like to do better than
to have been one of the followers of Jesus. When they met Jesus, they dropped
everything to be with Him. I like to think that’s what I would have done
too—followed Him, hung on His every word, learned from Him first hand, and
copied Him. Maybe I would have been one of the seventy disciples sent out by
Jesus when He sent them out two by two. (See Luke 10:1.) Surely some of those
seventy disciples were women?
As disciples of Jesus, who are sent to represent Him, ambassadors
of the Kingdom of God, it is part of our function in the body of Christ to know
what our gifts are and to use them, for His glory. In Romans 12:6-13 it says each of us has been
given a gift--let us use them!
However, no matter what my particular gifts are, no matter
what else I do in my life, no matter what day or age I live in, I consider it a
priority to get closer to Jesus and to worship Him. Today I read a bit of the
Passion Translation of the Bible from the Psalms and it was so powerful and
beautiful and expressed my heart so well I thought I would share it with you.
Every evening I will explain my need to Him.
Every morning I will move my soul toward Him.
Every waking hour I will worship only Him,
And He will hear and respond to my cry!
(See Psalm 55:17.)
Every morning I will move my soul toward Him.
Every waking hour I will worship only Him,
And He will hear and respond to my cry!
(See Psalm 55:17.)
The Passion Translation
by Brian Simmons www.passiontranslation.com
