The "furnaces" speak to us also of the energy, the power, of God. The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power. Prayer and obedience are the means God has given us for obtaining His energy. There is no lasting strength in the flesh. If we would demonstrate the power of the Kingdom of God we must pray in the Spirit and be strictly obedient to the Spirit of God at all times.

The greatest energy in the universe is the Word of Almighty God. God Himself Is a Fire, and the Word of God is a fire.

Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23:29)

The Daughters

And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters. (Nehemiah 3:12)

Women have a role to play in the work of restoration. In the Body of Christ, the Temple of God, there is neither male nor female. It remains true that in the conduct of the family and the churches, where we live at a human level, the husband is the head of the wife. God has placed men in charge of the world and women as their helpers.

But when we are considering the anointing of the Holy Spirit—and the work of restoration is the work of the Holy Spirit—the women have a part to play, a role to fulfill. They are not to be despised and hindered in the fulfilling of their ministries.

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. (Joel 2:28,29)

"Your daughters shall prophesy"!

And the same man [Philip the evangelist] had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. (Acts 21:9)

If God had determined women should not be active in the Body of Christ, there would have been no women in the upper room where the Church of Christ was born.

These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. (Acts 1:14)

If we are familiar with the Book of Acts and the writings of Paul we have some idea of the part that women played in the early churches. The Holy Spirit has shown us plainly in the Word that women are used of the Spirit to build the Kingdom of God.

There have been many women during the past hundred years who have taught the Gospel with power, who have served successfully as missionaries, who have manifested the Spirit of God in healings and miracles. Such ministry would be impossible apart from the Holy Spirit of God.

If, therefore, the Holy Spirit obviously is using women in the work of the Gospel, are we greater than God that we should not recognize His anointing and blessing on women?

Women are to be submissive to their husbands. They are to show in themselves the sober, godly behavior expected in women of God. The Holy Spirit will employ them in the work of restoration according to His own wisdom. The "daughters" are to work alongside the men in the rebuilding of the wall and gates of Jerusalem.

Women are to be especially careful in the area of deception. Women (as well as men) often become spiritually ambitious, seeking to dominate and to obtain glory for themselves. Then they are deceived easily by Satan and launch into areas of religious activity that have little or no value in the Kingdom of God.

Also, wives who are spiritually ambitious create havoc when they attempt to model their husbands according to their own standards of "spirituality." The Lord regards highly those women who possess a meek and quiet spirit, who walk in holiness and the fear of the Lord.

To be continued.