But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.
—Acts 1:8
—Acts 1:8
When the 120 people gathered in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, the count included women (Acts 1:14–15). If women did not need power to spread the Gospel, why were they included in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit?
When Joel prophesied about the future outpouring of the Holy Spirit, he said that God would pour His Spirit out upon all flesh. Upon his menservants and his maidservants He would pour His Spirit out (Joel 2:28–29). He said that “they” would prophesy. He did not say that just men would prophesy. To prophesy can mean the same thing as teaching and preaching. It means to speak forth the inspired Word of God.
Of the thirty-nine co-workers that Paul mentions throughout his writings, at least one-fourth are women. In Philippians 4, Paul encourages Euodia and Syntyche to keep cooperating and states that they had toiled along with him in spreading the good news of the Gospel. Beyond that, I could create a very long list of women who have been successfully used throughout church history to do major things in God’s kingdom.
Lord, I ask You to send the Holy Spirit with power to make me a witness for Your name. Help me to spread Your name throughout the world. Amen.
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