Day 9: Mothers of the Church (or of the Community)
Scripture:
Judges 5:7 There were no warriors in Israel until I, Deborah, arose, until I rose up as mother in Israel.
Titus 2: 3-5 Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior.
Song: Make It Right
Happy Ninth Day of Thanks Everyone!
Today, we give thanks for the Mothers of the church! They are God-fearing women, who will love on you, teach you correction, and take you to the altar and pray every sin out of your life from the top of your head to the bottom of your toes.
Some of ya’ll know what I’m talking about cause ya’ll had to go to the altar a few times, when your mind and your life wasn’t right and you needed some correction and serious deliverance.
I remember going to a strict Pentecostal church when I was younger and the prayers of the Mothers of the church would knock ever evil spirit out of an atmosphere within minutes of our shut-in. I remember during a shut-in a young lady walked into the church trying to escape harm from a gentleman. Now that I think of it, I think she was a lady of the night trying to get away from her pimp. I remember two of the Mothers wrapped a sheet around her because her clothes were not too holy. Then, they grabbed her hands and got her to that altar for prayer and deliverance started to happen; everything that was not right in her was coming out of just about every orifice as they prayed. When they were done, she was completely in her right mind and gave her life to the Lord. She ended up being a faithful member of our church and completely sold out to God. The mothers of the church made sure she had a new holiness wardrobe for church and walked out life with her until she got her life back on track.
I hadn’t heard about a more recent story of the Mothers of the church at work until I spoke to my uncle several weeks ago. He has this amazing heart and an “unofficial” ministry of visiting the elderly and shut-in members of his church. He told me that he had just come from visiting one of the mothers of his church and she prayed for him as if he was on the altar at the temple, such that when she got done he was crying with tears and snots running down his face. He said he felt so much lighter. I commented, “she got you good, didn’t she?” He said, “I haven’t had prayer like that in a minute. Everything I had on me was shed at that prayer.”
For those of you who don’t know what a “come to the altar moment” is and have never seen or experienced one with a Mother of the church, I don’t even know if I can call you delivered. (Lol!) The Mothers are no joke when it comes to intercessory prayer and deliverance.
I just had a moment.
When I was younger, a friend of mine used to clown me because he would always complain that as a “Mother of the Church In-Training,” I should have peppermints, a fan, some tissues and a whole host of other things in my purse to take care of his needs while we were in church. My repeated reply to him was that he should come closer to me so I could lay my hands on him like the Mothers and cast those patriarchal demons out of him. Lol!
God has blessed me with some amazing, incredible Spiritual Mothers. Little did I know that many years later, I would be given the title of Spiritual Mother by my prayer community. At first, I ran from that title because I never thought myself like the Mothers of the Church or anywhere near as powerful. However, I finally had to submit to the title because I found myself doing the very things that I grew up seeing the Mothers of the church doing. I provide correction in love; I teach and model to the younger ladies in my prayer community how to behave and reverence God and His word; I’m an intercessor who will pray the presence of God into an atmosphere and drive out every evil thing that’s not supposed to be there or that thinks it will oppose a move of God. I’ve even gone through several deliverance sessions with folks who needed it. Who knew that my Spiritual Mothers were equipping me and training me to one day be just like them!
Today as we give thanks for the Mothers of the church, I ask that you not only honor and bless the mothers of your church or prayer community, but, I invite you to check out (https://www.bxrebirth.org/) and support the Bronx (Re)birth Collective https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=RZTFP5A4NWYPQ) where they bring back dignity, integrity, and sacredness to the birthing process for Black and POC moms and also have an initiative to donate diapers, baby wipes, formula and food to moms for their babies.