Resonance

Tag: Deborah

  • Awake, Arise, Ascend, O Deborah: A Clarion Call

    Last week, we talked about the warfare strategy God revealed through the life of Deborah. We talked about the fact that there are two main mistakes we can make when it comes to doing exploits; zeal without knowledge or knowledge without zeal. You can be over-zealous and run ahead of God to “help” what He said to come to pass. You can also be told exactly what to do by God but fear stepping out. Last week focused on the knowledge aspect. This is about the zeal aspect.

    To be honest on my part, I thought that was all to the Deborah strategy. Now, I realise many precepts, protocols and processes were not captured. If we are going to do exploits, we ought to be explosive. Just like we did with David’s and Gideon’s, pick up your hardcopy Bible, open to Judges 5 and follow me on this one.

    Awake

    God announces our victory first before we fight to establish it. That means if we run ahead of God to fight in a battle He has not announced victory, we will suffer casualties. The Joshua strategy will reveal a lot concerning this principle. To awake is to rise from sleep, slumber and shackles. The awakening begins when we cry out to God. See, the enemy is not strong. We are simply asleep. Once we are awake, the enemy will have no chance. It is while men slept that the enemy came to sow tares among the wheat. Watchmen, awake. Awake, awake, Deborah. Awake, Barak. This is a wake up call.

    In fact, it is the power of death that keeps people asleep. When a man is blind and asleep, even if he’s a strong man, you can enter his house and bind him. Remember Samson. To be awake is to be quickened. It is to stop fooling. Like the prodigal son, it is to come back to your senses. If you sleep all your life, life will pass you by. Your situation will never change, regardless of what God has spoken over your life, until you awake. If you are living in sin, you’re asleep. Wake up! If you’re living a desecrated life, the enemy still has power over you. Awake!

    Arise

    God must arise first before we can arise. In Judges 5:4-5 God arose. In verse 6-7, Deborah arose. Seven times in the book of Psalms, David prayed for God to arise. This is exactly why we discussed the knowledge aspect last week. Don’t go ahead of God. Sometimes, the iniquities of the Amorites are not yet complete. God does miracles, not magic. The path to recovery is a process even if some aspects of recovery are instantaneous. Judgement will be rendered at a set time and preparation needs to take place. But why? Because God uproots to plant. Unless the planting follows the uprooting, the uprooting creates a bigger hole for the enemy to fill. It’s like casting a demon out of a person and not filling them with the Spirit. If you are going to tear down demonic priesthood, you ought to be trained to sustain a divine priesthood.

    Process does not exist because God is slow. It exists because of us. Arising is when God trains us to become who He wants us to be. Sometimes, God leaves certain adversaries and obstacles in our way because although it isn’t His Will, He can use it to achieve His purpose in our lives. It may take a second to awake but arising takes time. It takes seconds for light to shine in darkness when the light is switched on, no matter how long there was darkness. However, it takes time for God to enlighten our darkness. By being in darkness for that long, we have learnt the ways of the darkness and absorbed darkness into us. Light is what we use to win battles against darkness. We cannot conquer darkness with darkness.

    What happens if we don’t arise? Judges 4:8 tells us that new gods will arise because we didn’t take our rightful place (Deuteronomy 32:17). Nowhere is left unfilled. There is no neutral ground. There’s always a rising. If we don’t arise, it means the enemy will arise. Until we arise, Christ will not shine His light on us. We rise to shine. It means the time has come. It means we ought to gird our loins. Like the angel told Peter when he was freeing from prison, gird your loins after you arise. To arise is to be revived and restored like in the days of Hosea. To arise is a call to battle. To arise is to conquer spiritual timidity with Spirit of Love, Power and Sound Mind. The enemy will fight back. However, those who go through this process will be equipped enough not to give up or give in.

    Arising is so important to me because this is where the real warfare is. If you can arise, you will ascend. Once you ascend, it is game over for the enemy. Thus, this is part he will fight the hardest; while you are still unsure about who you are and the manner of Spirit you carry. This is the part many give up and question God’s attitude because of so much warfare. The enemy seems to know something God has hidden from you for now. Only willing people keep winning (verse 2,9). You need to be spiritually violent. The violent takes it by force. Our destinies are interconnected. Verse 13 to 15 makes us understand that when we arise, we cause others to arise also. When we fight, they encourage them to fight too. When we fight, angels fight on our behalf (verse 20). The victory is not meant to be mine alone. It is ours. However, anyone who doesn’t fight will not be part of the victory (verse 16-17).

    Winning the Test of Contradiction

    Anytime God speaks and the opposite of what He said is the situation, it means there is a contention. The enemy barely gives up anything without a fight. Verse 19 makes us know that. As we discussed in the jurisdiction of the devil, temptation is allowed but occupation is not. Let’s not confuse the two. Sometimes, we become too amazed when battles arise. If there is no battle, how do you get the victory? If you are not tempted, what is the proof of your obedience? If you are not tested, what justifies your ascension?

    In the test of contradiction, it will look as though the enemy has the upper hand, the advantage. It will look like they are winning but they will suddenly fall. Of course, the enemy sealed legality in the area you are fighting him. He won’t give up until he loses. His pride makes him think he can still win. You wear him out by encouraging yourself in the LORD (verse 21). More people lose to the enemy by giving up than by fighting. In fact, more of his devices are meant for that. Giving up is the easiest thing to do. However, remember that God is on your side. Remember that what you are really doing is fighting for the establishment of the Kingdom in that area. Fight from victory because God announced your victory before the fight began.

    Ascend

    Ascension only belongs to those who won their battles. When the set time for your coronation comes, you will now understand why God made you spend so much time at the arising stage. To ascend is to be set upon your high places. To ascend is to take your rightful place. The high places were formally occupied by the enemy as they left you bound in sleep and blindness. Once you awake via an encounter like Gideon and via a revelation/enlightenment/understanding, God trains you to break in and break through. You will arise to tread the enemy on their high places, and then be manifestedly coronated to take dominion. You were born for this all along. Jesus conquered so we can also conquer. His finished work is so we can also finish.

    Awake and sing your testimonies to enable others to arise, arise and go to the city gates where you contend for your rightful authority, take captivity captive and ascend. Record your testimonies so others can recite them to awake. Your testimony of how you arose will cause many to awake so they can arise because all eyes will see that you have ascended.

    In all, God is working on us, in us and with us to establish His Kingdom where righteousness, joy and peace will reign for as long as we live.

    God fights for us through us with us. We rise in strength to seal our victories so that peace reigns when the Kingdom is established.

  • Deborah Strategy: Warfare Strategies of the Kingdom of God

    I was on my knees in prayer when I heard “it is time to deploy the Deborah Strategy”. I didn’t know what the Deborah Strategy was, although I had it written down at the beginning of the year. Now that I know, I know exactly why I had to be told that (that’s exactly what the Deborah Strategy is about). Let’s delve in so you understand what I mean.

    The Deborah Strategy is about doing exploits. When it comes to doing exploits, there are two main mistakes we can make; zeal without knowledge or knowledge without zeal. You can be over-zealous and run ahead of God to “help” what He said to come to pass. You can also be told exactly what to do by God but fear stepping out. This is why what we are about to discuss is very strategic in warfare.

    If you have been given a Deborah anointing or a Deborah ministry, never get ahead of God. You will suffer serious legalities. Judges 4:2 will tell you clearly that it was God who handed the people of Israel over to the enemy. In fact, the word used was “sold”; the same word used when Esau sold his birthright; the same word used when Joseph was sold by his brothers. It was a legal transaction. The enemy was rightfully ruling. In the jurisdiction of the devil, we understood that the devil doesn’t make any illegal transactions. He immediately secures legality when there’s a handing over. In fact, this was the third time the Book of Judges said God sold them because of their sins.

    The first thing to do when the enemy has the upper hand is to cry out to God for mercy. God will answer that cry and will start the process of redemption and restoration. This strategy can be used when there is an evil leader over a territory. Don’t wage warfare without knowing first the legalities involved. Whether you get to know all or not, obtain God’s Mercy. The Mercy of God is the executive order that trumps all transactions, legal or illegal. If you realise that your family some time back made a covenant with a goddess, don’t attack first. It was a legal transaction. You will suffer backlash. Secure the Mercy of God.

    Once the Mercy of God has been secured, tarry until God downloads the strategy to you. During that time, God will be incubating you to be the main priest of your family or territory or nation. If you think it’s just a matter of uprooting the enemy and that’s all, you’ll realise it’s not like that. God uproots to plant. Therefore, He prepares the tree in the seed He will plant before He even uproots. This is why going ahead of God must fail. You will create more ground for the enemy to leverage upon. That’s basically the Ishmael strategy of the kingdom of darkness.

    You should know that Deborah was a judge for a while until the time came when God gave her the strategy to conquer the enemy. You may be Barak complaining about why a certain problem is still persisting until you realise God has specifically chosen you as the solution. See, God is intentional. The strategy is location-specific (Mount Tabor), people-specific (10,000 men of the sons of Naphtali and Zebulun) and has certain specifications to be noted. This is not a strategy if it is vague. If the instructions are still vague to you, don’t take action until you have gained clarity. God is not the author of confusion. His instructions are so clear and specific that you will know when you begin to devise your own style to obey. The instructions may not look time-bound but it mostly is. There is a set time allocated to the fulfilment of it.

    Do you understand what that means? “It is time to deploy the Deborah Strategy”. God can give you clear instructions but until He says start, don’t start. Yes, He told you that you will go to secondary schools and impact the lives of young females. The timing is so important that going ahead or later can cause serious repercussions. Barak was told and it was an instruction to act upon immediately. Deborah told him uprightly, “this is the day”. The time had come. Remember that it is a partnership between you and God. With Him, all things are possible. Doing anything without His consultation while hoping that He supports it is very similar to believing in luck. He has already preplanned everything so kindly work with His timing.

    I know you want to heal all the sick people in the hospital in one day and go to the cemetery and cause all of them to come back to life. Such zeal! Clap for yourself. Before you go and act like a superhero and hope God backs you up, why don’t you wait for God to send you? Even Jesus never stepped into a scene without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He went to the pool of Bethesda, healed only one man out of so many, and left. You can’t step into a village and burn their altars and tear down all their shrines when you didn’t hear God. It doesn’t work like that. Surely, you don’t have more zeal than God to do the exploits He prepared beforehand for you to do. Work with Him.

    And now you understand.

    The Deborah Strategy is not a random outburst of power. It is a legal, prophetic, and Spirit-led deployment of God’s will in territories where the enemy has gained ground. The urgency of exploits must always be rooted in the order of heaven. In no particular order, let me summarize it for your clarity:
    – Secure Mercy first
    – Wait for the God-given strategy for the mission
    – Work in partnership with God
    – Know and act at the revealed set time
    – Act in obedience, not mere zeal
    – Understand your priestly role.

    You know your God. You have waxed strong. It is time for exploits. Heaven has received the cries of the saints, Heaven has seized the legal ground of the enemy. Heaven has chosen the vessel, and Heaven has released the strategy. Now, wait for the “This is the day” signal. Then move. Boldly. In sync with God.