The Bible is replete with stories of women who demonstrated confidence in God and were rewarded for their efforts. As a result, they changed their communities for His glory.

I believe the same God who blessed women in Old Testament times for their faithfulness will bless us if we obey His commands. He will equip us to move His agenda forward on the earth.

Consider the prophetess Deborah, who was a judge over Israel. She used her God-given wisdom to encourage and challenge Barak to go to war with Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army.

Barak sensed the anointing on this woman and insisted that she go with him to battle. God fulfilled the prophetic words spoken by Deborah and gave Israel the victory (see Judg. 4:4-17).

When we demonstrate boldness and the willingness to stand for God when there is pressure to do something else—to be politically correct at a PTA meeting or on the job, for example—He will empower us.

Look at Queen Esther. God placed her in history at a time when the life of the entire Jewish nation was at stake (see Esth. 4:4-8). When Mordecai asked Esther to petition the king on behalf of her people, she hesitated. But when she understood the seriousness of the matter—that she was a Jew and would also be killed along with her family—she told her people to fast and pray.

After a three-day consecration, Esther courageously declared, "If I perish, I perish." She spoke with the king and the Jews were spared.

Prayer is the believer's winning weapon. It's time to put on our evangelistic garments, intercede and cry out for this nation, as God instructed the prophet Isaiah to do. "The voice said, 'Cry out!' And he said, 'What shall I cry?' ... O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem ... lift up your voice with strength ... Say to the cities of Judah [America], 'Behold your God!'" (Is. 40:6-9, NKJV).

We must open our eyes to the moral decay in our nation. HIV/AIDS is claiming the lives of young adult women at an alarming rate. And gang violence is causing many of our males, some as young as 10, to die prematurely in the streets. We can't waste time jockeying for positions in the church; people in our neighborhoods are calling out for help.

God wants to use women to transform our nation and the world, but we must get into the trenches. Spiritual warfare requires fasting, prayer and intercession. The strongholds that grip our homes, churches and communities must come down. Complacency can no longer be tolerated.

We are engaged in a no-holds-barred conflict that pits light against darkness, truth against error and good against evil. Let's unite our forces and pray, and God will give us victory.

Mother Willie Mae Rivers is the general supervisor of women for the 6 million-member Church of God in Christ. She travels throughout the U.S. and abroad ministering and training women. She has a radio program Evangelist Speaks, and is the founder of the Community Christian Women and Men Fellowship. Mother Rivers lives in Goose Creek, South Carolina, and is the mother of 10 adult daughters.