I feel like God has been saying, “I’ve been here all along. I have never left you and I have never forsaken you. I’m so sorry for the bad things that happened to you. I’m so sorry for the hurtful words that were spoken over your life. But old things have passed away, and all things have become new.”[5] I’m believing that God is renewing your mind in this moment, that He’s performing heart surgery on you, and that your broken heart is being mended, strengthened, encouraged, and made whole.
My prayer is this: “God, whatever abandonment issues I have, break them off. Even if I don’t know that they’re there. Break off whatever fears and anxieties I have in the name of Jesus.” So I’m going first. I’m jumping in. Are you going to jump in with me? The water may be cold, your hair may get wet, but God is with you wherever you are. He wants to pour out His peace and His grace on you like never before. He wants to bless you with “rivers of living water” (John 7:38).
Let’s Pray
Lord, You see my fear and anxiety, the abandonment and loneliness. I know You are healing me, and I thank You for continuing to break these chains. You are my Father, the one who never leaves and who is greater and more powerful than all things. Set me free from the thoughts, lies, and insecurities that hold me back, and help me leave them behind for good. Help me fully believe and live in Your peace, because You, Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, have made me free.
6 Made for Victory
Deborah was a queen bee. She was the only female judge that we have biblical record of. She was one of the few judges to whom the title “prophet” was also given.[1]
Her name means “bee,” like a bumblebee.[2] I thought, You know what? Beyoncé wasn’t the first queen bee. Maybe she borrowed that title from Deborah. Deborah was “a sting for foes, and honey for friends.”[3] We want to be a sting to the Enemy and honey for the women in our world, right? Isn’t that so good?
Deborah was the original queen bee, and bees are responsible. One-third of our food supply depends on animal pollination of plants, in which bees play a major role.[4] Deborah fulfilled an active and vital role in bringing life to her community, just like a bee. Queen bees let off this fragrance, this aroma, which is a signal for all the bees to unite and work together at whichever tasks are before them.[5] What fragrance do our lives give off? Is the aroma of our lives sweet? Since we are royal daughters, we want to give off an aroma that promotes unity among this generation of women. This is so powerful.
The queen bee is the heart and soul of the beehive. The colony can’t survive without her. And that’s true for us as women—we are the heart and soul of this world, and the world really can’t survive without us.
We are called to bring life to our communities.
Judges 4:1–8 tells her story:
After Ehud’s death, the Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. So the Lord turned them over to King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite king. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-haggoyim. Sisera, who had 900 iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help.
Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet who was judging Israel at that time. She would sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for judgment. One day she sent for Barak son of Abinoam, who lived in Kedesh in the land of Naphtali. She said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: Call out 10,000 warriors from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun at Mount Tabor. And I will call out Sisera, commander of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and warriors, to the Kishon River. There I will give you victory over him.”
Barak told her, “I will go, but only if you go with me.”
Deborah had her judgment seat in the open air, under the shadow of that tree, which was an emblem of justice. I love that she chose a palm to sit under. They can withstand crazy storms; they bend but rarely break under pressure.
She shows us that what we sit under is critical.
What are we sitting under? Instagram, the news, fear, gossip, or what other people think? I love how Deborah sat out in the air and sunshine, not hidden away in the shadows.
Deborah went out to the battlefield. She didn’t stay on the sidelines. I love that she was in the field! Deborah and ten thousand warriors against the enemy. That was one courageous girl! Think about it. A woman on the front lines. The insecurity that she had to break through, the barriers and preconceived ideas that they may have had about her.
She carried God’s word to the Israelites, who were oppressed. I wonder what problems you carry answers to. That’s a question to pray about: “God, what problems are You going to bring solutions to through my life?”
Deborah didn’t do it alone. She had help from Jael. Who are you leaning on to help you in the battles you’re facing? Sometimes we believe the lie that asking for help is a sign of weakness, but it’s a sign of strength.
Deborah must have been tough; she wasn’t weak and high-maintenance. I love hotels with air-conditioning, and I’m not the best camper. Don’t judge me, because we all have our tolerance levels. But hey, when I’m on the mission field, I can get down and dirty without air-conditioning and water, and I can love on people big-time. When I can choose, though, I choose air-conditioning. But Deborah wasn’t high-maintenance. She went on that battlefield, just walking tall among ten thousand warriors. Can you imagine that? An army with nine hundred chariots was facing her, and she was just walking and leading, standing strong and letting off a fragrance of unity. Deborah was confident. She knew who she was and she led boldly. I love that. I’ve been meditating on the fact that Deborah was found in the field. She found victory by being in the field, not staying at home under her tree.
Before there was any sign of victory, Deborah also prophesied to Barak that the victory was coming. Sometimes we have to speak life into a situation before victory comes. That’s what Deborah did. She had to fan the flame of hope within Barak, and she had to prophesy life into a dead situation by believing God for victory. And the victory came.
Deborah faced the battle unafraid. She helped bring strength and strategy to Barak. God gave her a battle plan, and speaking on God’s behalf, she said, “This is what you’re going to do—you’re going to gather the troops, and you’re about to wreck shop to get the victory.” She had a plan and a purpose. Deborah was soft but strong; she was tough yet tender. And that’s okay for women. For my hardcore sisters out there who are like, “I’m rough and tough. I don’t like high heels; I wear tennis shoes”—you still have a tender side that God has placed within you to be a strength to other people. You can be tough and tender. You can be strong and kick butt, but you can also be soft, speaking words of life and peace as Deborah did.
The battle raged, and Deborah helped bring the victory by being God’s mouthpiece. But she didn’t accomplish the task herself. In the same way, we work better within community, and we aren’t called to do life alone.
Another key character in this story is a woman named Jael. The army of ten thousand beat Sisera’s army, but Sisera got away on foot. Judges 4:17–18 says, “Sisera ran to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because Heber’s family was on friendly terms with King Jabin of Hazor. Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, ‘Come into my tent, sir.’ ”
“Please give me some water,” Sisera said. “I’m thirsty” (verse 19). So Jael gave him some milk. Then he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent. If anybody comes and asks you if there is anyone here, say no” (verse 20). The battle had just finished. Sisera was in her tent, and Jael had a plan of action. “When Sisera fell asleep from exhaustion, Jael quietly crept up to him” (verse 21). I love when biblical stories come alive. Just imagine that Sisera is sleeping. Jael has given him his milk, tucked him in, and put a little blanket over him. But Sisera is the villain, so Jael quietly grabs a hammer and a tent peg. “Then she drove the tent peg through his temple and into the ground, and so he died. When Barak came looking for Sisera, Jael went out to meet him. She said, ‘Come, and I will show you the man you are looking for’ ” (verses 21–22). Imagine the scene—Barak follows this woman into her home and finds Sisera lying dead with a tent peg in his temple.
Jael knew her value and worth. She also knew the weapons of her warfare and wasn’t afraid of a mess. Driving a tent peg into someone’s skull is hard and bloody work. She was gangster. She took that tent peg and that hammer and nailed him to the ground.
Jael used what she had. The women were the tent builders. The tents were strong, heavy, and big, which means that the women had some strength. Jael wasn’t afraid of the tent peg and hammer, because she was accustomed to constructing tents. Sometimes we take for granted the ordinary things in life like Jael’s tent peg, not believing that the supernatural can come forth from the mundane. But God can breathe on the ordinary and make it supernatural.
Sometimes we think, You know what, God? I need victory over this situation, but we ignore the everyday items that we possess, like the Bible, the Holy Spirit, or being planted in God’s house. Jael used a tent peg and a hammer to help bring forth the victory. What’s in your hand? So many people in this world don’t have access to Bibles, but we have abundant access to God’s Word. We have access to a healthy group of women who we can lean on.
After Jael hammered the tent peg, she could have thought, What did I do? Oh my goodness. This is so messy. Let me clean it up. But she wasn’t afraid of the mess, because she knew that life is a hot mess at times. She didn’t say, “Let me go get someone else for the job.” She knew the assignment was hers. And she stepped right into it. Then she walked out to meet Barak. She likely didn’t even clean up the blood in her tent. She said, “Come in. Look what I did.”
We have to be gangster and hardcore when facing the obstacles before us. We have to see our prayers and our words as weapons until the victory comes. Obviously, this will play out differently for us today. But when the Enemy tries to come into our thoughts, into our homes, or toward what we consider sacred, praying and reading God’s Word is our weapon.
Second Corinthians 10:3–5 says, “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”
Sometimes we get frustrated when things don’t turn out the way we want or when life gets messy, but God can do the miraculous in the mess. If your life is messy right now, it’s a setup for the miraculous. If your marriage is messy right now, it’s a setup for the miraculous. If your thought life is messy right now, it’s a setup for the miraculous. God can bring victory in a moment by His presence. Victory isn’t something we have to work up in our own strength. We surrender to Him and He brings it.
God can do the miraculous in the mess.
Think about the areas where you need God’s victory. How can you believe in victory before it comes just like Deborah did before this battle?
I’ve walked through some dark situations with loved ones, but declaring truth became a helpful victory practice. I said over and over, “God, I declare victory over this situation.” I just kept saying, “I thank You that You’re going to make a way. I thank You that You’re going to make a way where there seems to be no way.” God can do the same for you. A practical way to walk this out is to grab your Bible or phone and look up scriptures on victory. Then insert your name in the verses, and pray them over your situation.
Then, after you cross over to victory, you can help other women cross over to the same.
When our thoughts fixate on our fears of losing the battle, we can draw them back in line through meditating on and praying Scripture. Exodus 15:2 is what I’m declaring over you right now: “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him—my father’s God, and I will exalt him!”
In Romans 8:35, Paul asked, “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?” Verse 37 says, “No,” and I love that Paul was so emphatic: “No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”
Despite all things, overwhelming victory is yours:
