Do you want to be a woman of authority? Do you want to have the kind of spiritual power that changes things around you, that takes dominion over evil in the name of Jesus?
Usually when Christians talk about dominion and authority, they are referring to the acts of “binding and loosing,” “casting and dismissing,” “releasing and getting.” These are a real part of our Christian lives, as the Bible says: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8).
But not all of us manifest that power. In fact, many of us live in fear, discouragement and defeat. We want to live our lives in the authority and power of the Holy Spirit, but we fail time and time again.
Something is missing! Fortunately, the Bible introduces us to one person who can teach us what that “something” is: the woman who washed Jesus’ feet at the home of Simon the Pharisee.
“And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head” (Luke 7:37-38).
At first glance you might ask, “What does this woman know about dominion and authority?” We don’t see her binding and loosing, casting out devils or tearing down walls. Yet she caught the attention of Jesus at the table that night—and if you can catch the attention of the Master of the universe, you have power.
What this woman knew is how to worship Christ with everything she had in her. She knew how to give her all in worship to her Savior. And in that kind of abandoned worship, she found the power to do something that no one else—not even Jesus’ closest disciples—had the wisdom and foresight to do.
Courage Through Worship
Now Scripture says that a woman’s hair is her glory (1 Cor. 11:15). I suppose that’s why we women spend so much time on our hair. We feel our best when we’re having a good hair day!
The woman in Luke 7, however, used her hair to wipe Jesus’ feet after she had washed them with her own tears. She took her hair—her glory, her most important cosmetic, the thing that made her feel complete and feminine—and wiped His dirty, sweaty, calloused feet.
In that act, it was as if she was saying: “Nothing I have, nothing I am, nothing I hope to be, is more important than loving You. I’m going to use everything I am and everything I have—even the precious things, the ‘glory’ things—to worship You.”
She washed His feet without hesitation or apology. All around her sat sneering Pharisees and disapproving disciples, yet she threw herself with total abandonment into worship of her Savior.
She didn’t care what the others thought of her. She didn’t care whether they considered her worship appropriate. She simply worshiped—and that gave her the courage to approach Jesus in the midst of a hostile crowd. She wasn’t out to impress people; she wanted to impress God!
Like this woman, you and I can find courage through worship. We must simply set aside our self-consciousness and give our all to draw near to Jesus. As we abandon ourselves in the presence of God—as we refuse to worry about who may be looking, what they may be thinking—we are set free from the fears that hold us back from being who we really are in Christ. We become confident; we gain spiritual authority. We get the attention of Jesus!
That kind of abandoned worship requires emotion. The woman in Luke 7 showed her emotions through her tears and kisses. It is no coincidence that the Greek word for “worship” means “to bow and to kiss.” Yes, it is right to be reverent; but it is also important to worship with emotion.
Kissing is an intimate act. It stirs our feelings. It requires a total release of ourselves. And in the case of this woman, she didn’t kiss simply Jesus’ hands or His cheek. She kissed his rough, dusty feet. And not just once or twice; the Greek word for “kiss” is in the imperfect tense, meaning that she kissed them continuously.
It is almost as if she was out of control. In worship, that’s not such a bad thing.
Now, no one would approve of worship that is wild or vulgar or promiscuous, but being in His control means being out of ours. We must come to the point where we make no apologies for loving and worshiping Him with every fiber of our being. When we do, we make a connection with Jesus that all the theological learning in the world can never accomplish.
