ESOCS Devotional 25 July 2023
MEMORY VERSE:“Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.”Judges 4:4 NIV
TEXT: JUDGES 4:1-21 (KJV)
And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead.
2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
3 And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
5 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
7 And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
9 And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
12 And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.
13 And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.
14 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
15 And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.
17 Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
19 And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
20 Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.
21 Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
The place of womanhood in home building, generation upbringing, church growth and nation’s development cannot be overemphasized. It is the vital position the women occupy that singles them out for celebration world over. Necessity therefore dawns on us to look at the place of women in leadership and critically X-Ray the Deborah’s model as a classical example of generational woman leadership that brought victory and breakthrough to the entire nation.
The Deborah’s leadership model can be classified as follows:
- Leadership is not a position but ability: It is not a position that people occupy but ability that people demonstrate. It is not a title but a task backed with ability. It is clear we note that a position does not make a leader, but the leader makes the position. If we understand this, the struggle for position will cease. We will eventually start demonstrating great abilities as Deborah practically epitomized. There are several persons we have placed in positions for reasons best known to us that has no ability.
- Leadership ability is one of the winning abilities on earth: The nation was practically under siege until leadership showed up. “Then I looked again at all the injustice that goes on in this world. The oppressed were crying, and no one would help them. No one would help them, because their oppressors had power on their side” (Eccl. 4:1). The lack of leadership ability makes a people a looser. The Nation continued to lose to Jabin until Deborah arose in leadership.
- Everyone is leading at one level or the other: Some lead Nations, others institutions, organizations, families, but at least everyone is leading himself. It is when your leadership capacity increase that your leadership sphere also shifts. Deborah led from where she was.
- Leadership is not something that is forced, it flows: “If thou will go with me, then I will go: but if thou will not go with me, then I will not go. And she said, I will surely go with thee…” (Judges 4:8-9). It is funny when we see people force themselves into leading others which is practically impossible, as you can never achieve any result.
- The major problem of life is not gift, talent or anointing, it is leadership: There are several heavily anointed but frustrated and stagnated people, highly talented but strongly resisted people due to lack of leadership capacity, inability to coordinate, manage and relate to people. Deborah showed us the place of anointing as a prophetess and leadership excellence.
- Invest time in word study and prayers to develop your leadership capacity.
- Lord, release grace upon us to provide for good and strong leadership.
FURTHER READING: Ezra 3:1-end; Luke 7:36-end; Acts 21:17-26
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ESOCS Devotional 25 July 2023
