DEBORAHS, DON’T BE SILENCED RIGHT NOW…
God is raising a Deborah generation to boldly confront the darkness…
We have entered an hour that will require women to correctly discern and see through the rising deception. But before we ask to walk in this mantle, we need to ask whether we are prepared to carry it…
Deborah wasn't only courageous, she was discerning. She was both a mother, a judge and a watchman on the wall. She recognized the times were urgent around her. Deborah knew the difference between: truth and deception and righteousness and rebellion. We must also learn to discern the same and we can only accurately discern truth when the voice of Holy Spirit is louder than any other.
Understanding Deborah's function as a Judge…
Judges in the Old testament were assigned these roles:
1. Deliverers and military leaders.
God raised up judges to deliver His people from oppression. These were not passive observers of the darkness, they were called to confront it head on. Likewise, daughter, you are not called to be passive in this hour, you are called to confront the darkness with the authority of Christ.
2. Spiritual watchman and moral leaders.
Judges called God's people back to the Lord when they had wandered far from Him, and furthermore, they watched and saw ahead of what most could not see, when an enemy was on the horizon, they sounded the alarm. They confronted idolatry, compromise, and rebellion and they consistently called people back to covenant, often, at the cost of their own lives. Likewise, if you are seeing ahead in this hour, you are likely called as a Deborah or Barak to sound the alarm. This isn't fear mongering, this is God's protection to call His people to alert.
3. Defenders of God's justice and judicial authority.
Judges were entrusted with God's authority to establish justice amongst His people. They were called to discern what was right and stand for it. Likewise, you are called to correctly discern and weigh the truth in this hour and stand for it, unashamedly.
This is where Deborah and Barak are most powerful together. It's not man or woman alone or against each other, they stand and fight together against one common enemy- Sisera.
"Barak said to her, ‘If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go.’" –Judges 4:8
BEES & LIGHTNING
Deborah's name means, "a bee". She is the prophetic picture of the strength of one bee, but the true strength comes from the vast numbers of the hive... the many. Which is why it is a generation of Deborahs that I believe the Lord is raising. Young and old.
By contrast, Barak means, "lightning." He speaks of the lightning of God, coming forth like a powerful storm against darkness, as God's sons and daughters take up their roles together.
“Then the LORD will appear over them; his arrow will flash like lightning. The Sovereign LORD will sound the trumpet; he will march in the storms of the south.” –Zechariah 9:14
THE COUNTERFEIT OF DEBORAH
The enemy understands the strength of a woman who walks in her God-given authority. So he seeks to weaponize what God intended for good.
He will attempt to take your compassion, your pain, your outrage, and personal experience and use those feelings or experiences to cloud discernment and manipulate your conviction.
When those distorted emotions are multiplied across a multitude of women, an army of deception is mobilized. Look at abortion for example, how it has mobilized and radicalized women to murder their own, despite how contrary it is to our God-given design.
THE ENEMY OF DEBORAH
The name Sisera means, "keen and swift and meditations."
Prophetically, there is a picture here as well… it speaks of ideas, ideologies and ungodly meditations- thoughts that move swiftly through a generation, seeking to occupy the mind and choke out the Word of Truth.
Deborah arose to confront the meditations that had gained dominion over Israel, but she couldn't do it alone… Jael, would become instrumental in Sisera's final downfall.
Jael – the GOAT
Her name means "mountain goat.” Specifically, a goat that climbs the highest peaks to seek SALT. We need to be SALT and LIGHT in this moment of time.
In one striking move, Jael drove the tent peg through Sisera' head.
Did you catch that?
The head…. the very place where these meditations take root, the battlefield of the mind. It is a profound picture of the one who seeks salt, she is the one who drives a stake through the keen and swift meditations.
She reminds us that without the Word of God, and spreading the salt of His Word, we will not be able to accurately confront and tear down this rising evil.
In order to walk fully in the mantle of Deborah…
Be led by the Spirit of TRUTH!
Our compassion must be fully surrendered under Christ.
Our emotions must be fully surrendered under His Truth, not ours.
Our discernment must be fully surrendered under the Word of God.
If they are not, we are vulnerable of becoming the counterfeit, rather than the authentic.
The enemy doesn't need to silence a woman with authority… He only needs to distort her discernment through her pain, and turn what God meant for divine justice and courage into a weapon of mass destruction.
Daughters of God, pick up the mantle of Deborah, not the counterfeit
Let me remind you, do not allow your emotions to become the reins by which you are led, or your past pain to become the lens through which you discern the present.
Deborah heard the word of the Lord, she discerned the hour and she arose in courage and obedience.
You must do the same in this hour.
This is the mantle of the hour…
It is not a calling of reaction but of discernment. Neither is it is a calling to be manipulated by the multitude of voices around us, but rather, being led by the Spirit of truth, instead of the spirit of the age… culture. The voice of God must be louder than any other voice.
Stand up in this urgent hour, daughters. Turn your ears to the voice of the Holy Spirit, discern rightly according to His Word, and boldly carry what the Father has entrusted to you.
It's GO time!
“Then Deborah said to Barak, ‘Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?’ So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him.” –Judges 4:14
UP, DEBORAH! UP, BARAK! IT’S GO TIME!
-Christy Johnston