I grew up with three brothers, and was a tomboy through and through. Most days, you could find me arm wrestling, racing, roughhousing, and yes, even fighting…much to my mother’s dismay. When I turned 15, I remember my mom bringing her makeup bag over to me and saying, “Let me show you how to do your makeup.” I had NO interest whatsoever. Then I turned 16, and well, I guess I just grew out of it. Deep down though, I still have an inner tomboy, and it’s probably why God made me a mom of boys! While I finally embraced my feminine side, that didn’t mean I became weak. In fact, I can still arm wrestle with the best of them!! 🙂 But seriously…
Society has come a long way and gotten much better at portraying women as strong, but very often it’s done at the expense of womanhood, sending the message that in order to be strong, we have to be something other than what God created us to be. Many have bought this lie hook line and sinker.
Often we underestimate ourselves, especially as women, because we’ve listened to the lies the enemy has sold us. These days many women have seen their womanhood and femininity as curse rather than as a blessing. But ladies, God made us powerful just as we are. The gifts, the qualities, the uniqueness we have as women are all God-given What does it mean to be powerful? In the world, being powerful often means to exert control over others for selfish gain, but in the Kingdom, being powerful means impacting the lives of others in such a way that it influences others to live for God. Being powerful is NOT manipulating or controlling others as is often see in the world. This in fact is an abuse of power. To be truly powerful, we must walk in HUMILITY and OBEDIENCE to the Lord, so that God’s power and authority can work in and through us for His glory.
We see many powerful women in the Bible, but today, I want to share about one of my favorites…. Deborah, a powerful and influential woman! Let’s look at some truths from the life of Deborah; a woman who fully embraced her womanhood, while powerfully influencing those around her. Please read the portion of scripture below.
Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and [a]deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; 7 and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will [b]deliver him into your hand’?” 8 And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”9 So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
WOW! What a woman! Deborah was fierce! She was succeeding in all areas of her life!! She was confident. She was bold. She was fearless. If you’re like I was, you may be wondering what her secret is. If she was on Instagram today, we’d surely tune in to glean from all her wisdom. Well, let’s take a look now and see what we discover.
POWER POINTS
FIRST, in the portion of scripture we read above, Deborah is called a prophetess. To be a prophetess, she had to be a daughter of God before anything else…Listening for and hearing the voice of God so that she could declare His words for every situation she was in. Ladies, this is what God desires from us. We may look at Deborah and be like, “Gosh! I could NEVER have it all together like her, or juggle what she did or be as strong as she was, especially in the face of so much intimidation!” But let’s be encouraged and learn from Deborah’s example. She didn’t do all she did in her own strength. She clearly was connected to God, tuned into the voice of her Lord and obedient to what He spoke to her. Point blank, Deborah was faithful… and isn’t that what God is looking for from us all? I like what my husband often says, “God hasn’t called you to be successful, He has called you to be faithful!” That’s all we have to do, ladies. The rest is up to the Lord. I want to encourage you to first and foremost remember that you are a daughter of the King. Nurture your relationship with the Lord, seeking Him above all else. Be faithful in your commitment to Him and He will do the rest.
SECOND, Deborah was a wife. I love that the Word of God highlights this role after her relationship with God and before any other role or ministry she had. Today, we live in a society that often diminishes the role of wife and mother, and so I love seeing here that Deborah was taking care of home base. She saw the value in her God-given role. If you’re a wife, a mom, or a grandma know this, our homes and families are our first ministry. The world constantly tells us being a wife, a mom, a grandma and caring for our homes and families is menial and unimportant, but meanwhile we are raising up DESTINY CHANGERS in our children and grandchildren, AND we are being helpmeets to our husbands. Being a helpmeet means so much more than people realize. A wife’s position as helpmeet is not secondary, nor is it weak. Being a wife is actually a position of strength, and as Godly wives, we inspire our husbands to be the men that God called them to be. Our role is vital! I’ll write a more in depth post on this sometime and explain the strength and power of a wife’s position. But know this, wives, mothers and grandmothers, these roles are powerful. Don’t ever underestimate your power and influence in shaping the world of those you love and care for.
THIRD, Deborah was a Judge. She held this high position in a world where women were seen as less than. If anyone could have felt intimidation, it would have been Deborah. She was truly a woman living in a man’s world. While women were not valued and honored in her time, Deborah amazingly attained a position of strength and leadership that influenced an entire nation! I believe this is because Deborah was faithful FIRST in both her personal walk with the Lord and her ministry to her family, so God was able to promote her. Deborah’s strong character, as seen on display here in Judges, spoke so loudly to men and women alike, that the doors were opened for her to be in a position of powerful influence.
Ladies, I want to encourage you to keep being faithful right where you’re at. It’s very often your faithfulness in the things that no one else sees, that God sees, and knows He can then trust you with more. With things you may never have imagined. But things that God will empower you to do, to make a lasting impact around you. Ladies, as we go through our busy days, which may sometimes seem monotonous and thankless, let’s remember that everything we do, we do unto the Lord. First and foremost, He sees! Secondly, whether we realize it or not, people are watching our lives, and as we live with integrity, it speaks volumes about the God we serve and will lead to open doors for positions of influence – all for God’s glory.!
CLOSING TRUTH
As we read above in verses 6-9 we see that Deborah is given a word from God to speak to Barak. Again, for a woman to be speaking to a man in this way during this time period was unheard of, but Deborah cared more about being obedient to the Lord and speaking what He placed in her heart and mouth. Ladies, satan loves to intimidate us. He wants us to back down, to be silenced, to cower in fear, and to stop us from rising up and fulfilling our destiny. How does he attempt this in your life? Is it someone telling you that you can’t do something? Is it the broken record of your past telling you that you’re not good enough? Whatever it may be, I pray that you would no longer listen to the lies of the enemy and would see that ugly spirit of intimidation a mile away in whatever shape or form it may comes! I pray that we would be women that would boldly say, “NOT today Satan!! Get lost!” And just like Deborah, who’s obedience influenced a nation, your obedience will pave the way for God to do the miraculous in your life and the lives of those you touch! Hallelujah!!!!
While we are coming to an end of our look into Deborah’s life, I want to encourage you to read the rest of chapter 4 and 5 in Judges (Judges 4-5), because the rest of the story is AMAZING!! We see that Barak goes to war, but only on one condition. He tells Deborah, “I’ll only go if you go.” I can’t help but laugh out loud at his statement, as he looks to “little ol’ Deborah” to be his strength. But I laugh even harder at Deborah’s response back! She’s like “Of course I’ll go!” Deborah is brave to fault! I can almost hear her sigh and see her eyes roll as she responds, but then, maybe that’s just me. LOL! So, Deborah goes, but she lets Barak know that because of his conditional obedience, he will not get the glory for the victory. Instead, a woman will get it! I LOVE THIS! God is NOT a respecter of persons. Whether man or woman, God is not looking for conditional obedience, He is looking for complete obedience. We have a choice to obey and ladies, the right choice will enable us to walk in the God’s great power and authority!
In the end, the evil commander of the Canaanite army dies at the hands of Jael, a woman. And Whoa!!!!! What a creative use a tent peg! 🙂 You have to read the passage to know what I’m talking about! Go read it! So in closing ladies, don’t ever underestimate the power and influence you have and always remember; with great influence comes great responsibility. Be faithful. You are powerful influencer. Be a good steward wherever God place you and in your hand. Submit your hearts daily to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Listen closely for His voice. Allow God to fill your heart and mouth with His words and finally….When you do speak or act… ALWAYS be led by the Spirit of God.
Woman of God, YOU are POWERFUL!
